Protein-based injectable hydrogels towards the regeneration of articular cartilage

Abstract

A mis seres queridos, con ellos todo es posible "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams"Eleanor Roosevelt Acknowledgements 7 AcknowledgementsAfter reaching this point I would like to thank everybody that in one way or another has helped me through these four years of work.First of all, I gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the DPI2010-20399-C04-03 and MAT2013-46467-C4-1-R projects, my FPI fellowship BES-2011-046144 and the EEBB-I-13-06179 and EEBB-I-14-08725 research stay grants.I would especially like to thank my thesis supervisor, Dr. Gloria Gallego Ferrer, for helping me in everything I needed through these four years, for giving me this opportunity and for all her efforts in my assistance. Also thanks to José Luis Gómez Ribelles for his valuable help and brilliant ideas.Thanks to the staff of the Microscopy Service at the Universitat Politècnica de València, for their guidance and help during the SEM sessions.I would also like to express my gratitude to my supervisors during my stays at other Research Centers. Thanks to Prof. Ulrica Edlund, who during my stay at the Fiber and Polymer Technology Department (KTH) in Stockholm, helped me with everything I could need and to all the people in the center (Laleh, Anas, Soheil, Bekir, Parmida, Robertus, Arturo, etc.) that helped me in the lab and made my stay easier. Thanks to Prof. Manuel Salmerón Sánchez at the Microenvironments for Medicine group (MiMe) (University of Glasgow) for giving me the opportunity to learn the basics of cell culture in his lab, his guidance and valuable help. I would also like to thank Dr. Vladimira Moulisova for teaching me everything I know of cell biology work and being so patient and friendly. And to all the people of the group (Marco, Sara, Eleni, Mark, Alex, Jake, Elie, Frankie, etc.), as they say "People make Glasgow" and they made me feel at home. I cannot forget all the people at the Center for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering: to Laura Teruel, for being so patient with everyone, so helpful and keeping the lab in a perfect state, and all the lecturers for their help and advice, especially to Ana Vallés and Manuel Monleón, who introduced me to the wonderful field of Tissue Engineering.I would like to especially thank Tatiana C. Gamboa, who guided me in my first years in the lab. To Suhail, Rocío, Marta, Félix, Petra, Leonardo, Rebeca and Esther, I helped them in their first steps in the lab but I learnt a lot from them and they helped me a lot, both professional and personally. Also thanks to Alex Rodrigo who helped me a lot in my first cell cultures even if he had a million things to do.Thanks to all the people who have been in the "Sala de Reuniones" office: Manu, María, Line, Amparo G, Roberto, Guillermo, Álvaro, Laia, Rubén, etc., thanks for the break times, your laughs, your help and being the way you are.Special thanks to my friends, they gave me support through all these years, with them life is better.Finally, I w...

Anatomy, molecular structures, and hyaluronic acid – Gelatin injectable hydrogels as a therapeutic alternative for hyaline cartilage recovery: A review

“…The solid and fluid phases are crucial in distributing homogeneously external loads over the entire ECM when the cartilage is subjected to compression, shear and/or tension loads. This distribution is achieved by the permeable porous phase, which allows the flow of fluids that in turn creates a load transfer between both phases together with a pressurization of the interstitial fluid 33 . Accordingly, the cartilage intrinsic characteristics determine the main properties of the tissue such as compression resistance, tensile strength, shear stress resistance, hydrostatic pressure, swelling degree, permeability, and viscoelasticity.…”

The effect of electric fields on hyaline cartilage: an in vitro and in silico study

“…The solid and fluid phases are crucial in distributing homogeneously external loads over the entire ECM when the cartilage is subjected to compression, shear and/or tension loads. This distribution is achieved by the permeable porous phase, which allows the flow of fluids that in turn creates a load transfer between both phases together with a pressurization of the interstitial fluid [35]. Accordingly, the cartilage intrinsic characteristics determine the main properties of the tissue such as compression resistance, tensile strength, shear stress resistance, hydrostatic pressure, swelling degree, permeability and viscoelasticity.…”

“…Collagen fibers, having a more elastic behavior than PGs, enable the absorption of shear loads. Consequently, this absorption reduces the fractional dissipation and the phase angle [35].…”

“…Residual stresses and strains are physical magnitudes generated inside the cartilage after mechanical loading. These residual loads play a key role within the tissue enhancing cartilage physiological behavior and reducing the stresses when the tissue is loaded under physiological conditions [35]. Swelling is generated by the ionic constituents of the synovial fluid and the negatively charged GAGs (keratan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate) associated with the PGs molecules in the solid matrix of the cartilage [39].…”

“…On the other hand, natural polymers mimic the ECM of soft tissues and increase adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of cells without toxicity issues. Most hydrogels are made either by proteins such as collagen, gelatin, elastin and fibrin or by polysaccharides such as hyaluronic acid, alginate, agarose, cellulose and chitosan [35].…”